“I need justice. My case was
unjustly closed by the police!” That was the persistent cry of Mary
Sunday, a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on whom a pot of stew
and the kerosene stove, upon which it was boiling, were allegedly thrown at by
her fiancé, a serving officer of the Nigeria Police, Corporal Isaac Gbanwuan.
The incident, which left Mary with
grievous bodily harm including the loss of her two ears with her upper neck
glued to her arms, led to two surgeries while she needs N5million to undergo
another in India.
The victim told Sunday Vanguard she
was on the verge of being recruited into the police before trouble began
when her fiancé was allegedly diagnosed with low sperm count, lamenting that
she has been unjustly treated by the police and denied access to justice.
As a result of the medical report,
Gbanwuan allegedly became aggressive and suspicious. An argument which arose
from his suspicion of a telephone call Mary received on August 24, 2012, became
the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
“On our way home from hospital on
that fateful day, an argument ensued over a telephone call I received. He
didn’t want to believe the call was from my sister. The argument degenerated
and Isaac started beating me by the time we got home. When I could no longer
take the kicking and dragging, I tried to escape the scene and I ran to the
second floor of the building where we resided at Pedro Barracks, Shomolu,
Lagos. We had actually done our introduction and were preparing to get married.
He pursued me and I ran to a kitchen on the second floor to escape. He however
broke the kitchen door. In a fit of rage, he carried the cooking stove of the
neighbor, with boiling stew on it, and poured all the content on my body. The
stove exploded, setting me on fire”, Mary said.
The Lagos State Deputy Police Public
Relations Officer, Mr. Damascus Ozoani, in a newspaper report, dated
February 18, 2013, however cleared Gbanwuan of the allegation on the
grounds that the police had carried out and closed investigation on the matter.
In the report, the police described
the condition of Mary as a self-inflicted one.
“The allegation that Gbanwuan
assaulted Sunday is misleading. This case has been investigated by the Provost
Office of the command. The police have taken statements from Mary, Gbanwuan and
other eye witnesses at the Pedro Police Barracks. The Lagos State Police
Command is not insensitive. I can tell you that, at this moment, the
Commissioner of Police is interested in this case and has passed instructions
to the Provost to conclude investigations”, Ozoani was quoted as saying.
However, Mary, who was until June
2013 on admission at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, said the
police did not at any time visit her to get information from her after a
complaint was lodged by one of her relatives. When contacted, Gbanwuan,
who did not deny knowing Mary, refused discussing the subject but rather,
referred Sunday Vanguard to the police
headquarters for any details.
Foremost human rights activist,
Dr.(Mrs.)Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Executive Director, Women Advocates Research
& Documentation Centre-WARDC, suspects a bias in the matter.
“One would wonder why a woman who was
running for her dear life and seeking help and assistance from neighbours would
suddenly become suicidal and inflict such wanton harm on herself. Beyond this investigation,
Mary has no other option of redress since the police have closed investigation
on her case”, Abiola, who decried the insensitivity of the police towards
issues of domestic violence, said.
She continued: “We suspect there is
an attempt to subdue the case because of the multiple conflicts of interest
associated with the matter. We believe that the Lagos State Police Command has
been hasty in coming to the conclusion and that the newspaper report
affirms the bias of the police on this matter. We believe that the response was
also to cover up the several violations that take place at various police
barracks. Also, the fact that this abuse took place at the police barracks, to
us, is enough reason for the Lagos police to cover up. We would have expected
that the police would have, in accordance with the criminal law in the country,
subjected Corporal Isaac to a court of law before an unbiased umpire of this
case, so that justice can be seen as done.”
Abiola, who lamented the continued
violence against women with perpetrators going unpunished, regretted that
several other issues of domestic violence had got stuck at the police without
victims getting justice.
“We’ve written twice to the Police
Service Commission but got no response. We’ve also written to the Lagos State
House of Assembly from whom we’re yet to get an acknowledgement. To us as human
rights activists, we’re getting convinced that despite its domestic violence
laws, the state is not interested in reducing violence against women. We’re therefore
planning to do a petition to the African Commission and the Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Violence and Discrimination against Women – CEDAW,
on this matter, to state that the Nigerian government has failed in the
protection of women’s rights.”
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Wat an Assult, Where are the Human Rights Activist? Is femi falana Sleeping? Quick Rec0very Mary
ReplyDeleteAny body that covered the truth about this ur case Mary, same thing will surely happend to his or her daughter IJN.
ReplyDeleteAmen
ReplyDeleteAny lady that made up her mind to marry a hot tampered police or Army man is liable to have this ungodly encounter. I pray that justice prevails in your case ! Kamzy Dillish
ReplyDeleteOh dear I cried out why reading tru ur ordeal in de hand of dat miserable bastard I mean how can a man do such tin 2his wife 2be wow pple can be wicked, my dear may God fight for you.
ReplyDelete